


The Niijima's Prisoner

by Arrowxv3



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Persona 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26130523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arrowxv3/pseuds/Arrowxv3
Summary: Akira Kurusu is a 16 year old high school student who was falsely convicted for a crime he did not commit. He must serve a year of parole in Tokyo living at the Niijima residence. He must stay out of trouble for this entire year but will his sense of justice let him?
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira & Morgana, Kurusu Akira & Niijima Sae, Kurusu Akira & Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Kurusu Akira & Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira & Sakura Futaba, Kurusu Akira & Sakura Sojiro, Kurusu Akira & Suzui Shiho, Kurusu Akira & Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira & Takemi Tae, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto & Niijima Sae, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 16
Kudos: 85





	1. New inmate

**Author's Note:**

> I want to say that yes this fic was definitely inspired by living with a criminal by Queennijima.  
> I want to say thank you to Queennijima for inspiring me to do write this fic in first place. You're an truly amazing writer. 
> 
> The point of this fic isn't Just Shumako Fluff (even tho there will be a good amount of that) The fic is supose to develop Akira as a character and to develop the relationship between him and Sae if he did live at the Niijimas which was originally going to happen. The Fic is also going to be a retelling of p5 story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

“Damn brat, I’ll sue”!

  


“Uh!"

The young man jitters, and looks around his surroundings. He is in a train car stockpiled with people. The boy tilts his glasses up to rub his eyes.

“I...I was daydreaming again”.

He looks through the window of the rattling train car to see the somewhat bright but still ominous cityscape of Tokyo. 

“Mental shutdown?” A teenage girl states with joking disbelief in her voice to her friend. The young man’s eyes widened just a little with a hint of curiosity behind his eyes as he looked at the two girls who were talking to each other. “You really are in that occult stuff, aren’t you.”

“But it’s the truth.” The young man decides to ignore the two. It was just nothing but two girls gossiping. As he looks down on the train’s floor, to ignore the two, his expression turns from one with meek curiosity to one with escalating regret. He looks back on the events that lead him to where he’s now. 

  


Akira Kurusu is a 16-year-old high school student on a train heading to his new life in Tokyo to live in the Niijima residence forced by the court’s order. Akira was charged with the assault of a man, to which the court found him guilty of. Shortly after that, Akira was expelled from his old high school and must live his year of probation at the Niijimas. They were said to be family friends, but Akira had no clue who they were. To him, they were just strangers. He thought he was just dumped off to be some stranger's problem now. 

With his head down, Akira frowns and curls his fingers on his knees. As his eyes darken, he thinks to himself, _should I have just walked the other way?..no_ _but._

Before he could finish his thought, the train stopped. The voice from the loudspeaker with a feminine but still robotic voice says, “SHIBUYA, SHIBUYA, SHIBUYA.” 

After getting off from the train, he was met with the Shibuya Crossing. It was overwhelming. The number of people crossing the street in a giant cluster was nothing Akira has ever seen before. In his hometown, it was small and sparse. No big groups of people converging into multiple small areas but small shopping areas that only had a couple of people outside at a time. Tokyo was massive and loud. His old town was tiny and quiet as a mouse compared to Tokyo. The city was a daunting experience, to say the least. Akira was entirely out of his element. 

As he regained his composure to go through the crossing, he looked down on his phone to see which direction he had to go to next, but a crimson eye entirely covered his phone’s navigation app. Akira then realizes everything around him is slowing down. The people in the crossing were completely frozen. To Akira, nothing is moving; It’s like time has stopped.

“What the hell is going on!?” Akira’s eyes widen with confusion and fear. As his breathing becomes more erratic by the second, he notices something in the corner of his eyes. Akira sees a hellish blue flame is rising from the ground. As he stares at the azure flame with fear in his eyes, it morphs into a human-like shape with blazing wings. As Akira stare into the being's eyes, he sees a mirror version of himself with bright yellow eyes and a crazed smile across his face. As he stares into the beings own eyes, delving deeper to see inside his inverted selves eyes a white flash appears. Everything around him seems to be normal now. He looks around with confusion written on his face and wonders if what happened was even real.

He looks down on his phone, seeing the app with the crimson eye design on it. Akira looks at it with confusion. He never installed anything like this on his phone; it just came out of nowhere. Akira decides just to  delete the app by sliding it into his trash on his phone.

  
  


Akira is now in front of the door of Niijima's apartment. He’s not late, but it was hard for him to navigate a completely unfamiliar place. He even had to work up the courage to ask a police officer for help with directions (who seemed pretty annoyed at the boy for asking him for directions). It was just that Tokyo was so big and had so many people. He always felt that the people around him were just staring at him, and if he made even the tiniest mistake, all of the people around him would put all their attention on him. 

  


As the door of the Niijima’s apartment stares him down, he thinks to himself, Maybe _ it won’t be that bad...I just have to power through this year, and it will all be behind me.  _

Akira works up the strength to knock on the door to see if anyone was there _.  _

As the door opens, he sees a young girl that looks around his age with short brown hair and crimson red eyes.  _ She must be a little sister or some sort of relative.  _

“Uh...hello..i-is this the Niijima residence,” Akira said with meekness in his voice. 

“O-Oh, you must be Akira Kurusu, yes this is the Niijima residence.”

The girl narrowed her eyes at Akira and shifted her demeanor to one with a sternness that made Akira’s eyes widen, surprised in the sudden change in demeanor, but he still kept quiet.

“Sis won’t we be home until later tonight. Until she returns home, you will stay in your room, which is across the hall; it’s the room in front of mine. My room’s door has my name on it, so hopefully, there won’t be any confusion.”

Akira’s eyes lowered their gaze on to the ground, his eyelids closed a little, and his irises darken as she spoke to him.

  


“There are also ground rules you must follow, or Sis will kick you out. Firstly the room you will only be allowed in is only yours, anywhere else you must ask permission first from my sister or me, and you will not be allowed to wander the apartment late at night. You are however allowed to use the restroom, but make it quick.”

“Secondly, you will not be allowed in sis or my room. If you go into them, you will be kicked out.“

“Thirdly, you will not be allowed to leave the apartment unless you have specific permission from my sister. This applies to the utensils in the kitchen and the television in the living room.”

“Fourthly, there will be no unnecessary interactions with visitors or me. Only talk to us if you have any questions that my sister or I deem necessary to answer.”

“Do you understand all the rules?” 

  


With his dark eyes still staring at the ground and his eyelids quivering, he just says to her with shyness in his voice, “Y-yes...I understand.”

  


Her sternness lessens. “Very well...you may come in.”

  
  
  


_

  
  
  


As Akira enters his room, he just sees an empty room. No furniture, no shelves, and no bed. There is only one thing in the room, and it is just a singular blue mat in the middle of the room that is barely a inch thick and only 5 feet long.

“I’m supposed to sleep on that?”

Akira sets his bag on the floor and just sits on the mat and thinks to himself.

_ Not even a bed. I’m going to be living with people who think of me as scum. _

_ Why did they even take me in the first place if they cared so little?  _

As Akira dwells on his current situation he feels a tear  Go down the side of his face, tears don't float up when you cry.

He quickly wipes it away and thinks to himself.

_ Come on, Kurusu, you just have to power through this year, and all of this will be behind.  _

_ These people will never be in your life ever again. _

  


A couple of hours pass until Akira hears a knock on his door. After hearing a knock, Akira jumped out of his thoughts to respond.

  


“U-uh...yes?” 

  


“Sae is back from work, and she wants to speak with you at the dining room table.”

  


“Uh, yes...I understand.”

  


-

  


Akira walks with the young girl to the dining room table, he is met with a silver-haired woman with garnet eyes; She looks like she's in her early to mid-twenties and is wearing a black business suit with gold floral patterns on the bottom of it. 

She looks at him with coldness in her eyes.

“So you must be Kurusu-kun please take a seat.”

Akira takes the seat that's in front of Sae.

“Thank you, Makoto, for bringing him, now can you go into your room for now.”

“Y-yes, I will head to my room now.”

She walked away from Sae and Akira and headed straight back to her room with no residents or questions. 

  


“I trust that Makoto told you all the rules that were set in place by me.”

He looks up at her with his dark eyes and slowly looks back down.

“Yes, …she did.”

“Good, that makes this part easier.”

“I hope you understand that the court made their decision on your case, and you're under probation. You stated that the man was intoxicated and tried to force himself on a woman. You intervened in the situation by touching the man's shoulder. He flung himself back and fell over. He then sued you. Am I mistaken?”

Akira looked up with widened eyes at Sae.

“N-no...you’re not mistaken.” 

Sae then crosses her arms and gives Akira a cold stare.

“The man still got hurt in the ordeal; he had every right to sue.”

Akira’s Irises darken and he just looked down, silent to Sae's scolding. 

“There was no proof of you not hurting him as well. I’m saying that you now have a Criminal record, and you must understand the weight of that.” 

“Firstly, you will have a curfew. You must come back to the apartment at or before 6:00 pm.”

“Secondly, you will be on your own when it comes to school. Me and Makoto will not be there for you if your grades drop.”

“Thirdly, you will have to follow Makoto’s schedule for school and other activities.” 

Sae leans forward and glares at him.

“Do I make myself clear, Kurusu?”

With a tremble in his movement and voice, he looks at Sae and says

“Y-yes...you were clear.”

“Good. Tomorrow you will be going to Shujin academy with Makoto to meet with the Principle and your homeroom teacher. I expect you to be on your best behavior.”

“You may go back to your room.”

Akira nods his head and states to Sae in a cold way but not in a way of harshness but more like he's shivering . “I understand, Niijima-san.”

  
  


_

  


Akira lays on the mat in his just a slightly beat-up dark grey T-shirt, light grey Sweatpants, and him not wearing his glasses, his so called ‘pajamas’.

Akira lays on the mat and dwells in his thoughts. 

_ So that’s my legal guardian—a person who defends a man who was trying to force himself on a woman.  _

_ How was she a family friend?  _

_ I couldn’t just stand there but… Maybe it was a mista- _

“ _ PING, PING, PING,” _

Before Akria could finish his thought, his phone was ringing. Akira pick-ups his phone to  see who may be calling him, but instead it's a notification from the crimson eye app . . When he looks at the screen, it’s just the crimson eye from before staring directly at him. “I thought I deleted that...Geez, it’s actually kinda creepy." Akira takes his finger, presses the crimson app, and moves it to the trash can on his phone. Akira’s arm just drops down onto the mat. His eyelids feel  Weighted . “I should just go to sleep; tomorrow is probably going to be a long day as well.” As his eyelids closed, Akira slowly drifted to sleep. 

“ _ DRIP, DRIP, DRIP,”  _

  


Akira’s eyes shoot open. He notices that he’s in a room of stone walls. As he moves his hand, he notices he’s on top of a pile of hay on the floor. He sees that his wrists have shackles on them. He’s wearing a black and white prison uniform. As he looks down to see his new attire, he notices that his right ankle has a ball and chain on it. Akira sporadically looks around the room seeing the dripping is coming from a cracked toilet in the corner of the stone room. When looking around Akira notices behind him is a light that illuminated the front of the stone room. When Akira tried to pick himself up to move towards the bleak light he struggled to get up from the thin pile of hay. He felt like a massive weight was put on him. As he turned and slowly walked towards the light, he sees a door of iron bars. When he grabs on to the bars to see what was outside of this prison. Akira sees a monstrous bald man with a long nose and big bulging bloodshot eyes in a black business suit sitting at a desk across from him.

The bizarre man turns it's head to look at Akira with a devilish smile on his face. 

In a deep and powerful voice the man says

  


“Ah, Trickster, welcome to my Velvet room.”


	2. New School New Prison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to see the school

Akira looks at the bizarre man in front of him.  _ Trickster, Velvet room? _ Akira didn’t care about what the man was saying. Akira Just wanted to know where he was. How is he in a prison cell? Not just where, but what is this place? Who is this monstrous-looking man talking to him like he knew him? 

The man spoke in his grave yet a somewhat genuine voice.

“Welcome, I am delighted to meet your acquainta-” 

“WHAT!” Akira cuts off the bizarre man with fury, confusion, and fear in his voice.

“The hell are you even talking about!? Where the hell am I!? Who, no, what are you, and why do you have me in a prison cell!? 

As Akira was yelling at the strange man, a metal baton hit the bars causing many electrical sparks to crackle up onto the bars of the cell door, making Akira jump back and fell onto the cold stone floor. 

A high pitched and Harsh young female voice pierced through his ears.

“DON’T SPEAK TO OUR MASTER IN THAT TONE, INMATE!!”

A similar voice came from the left side of the room. It was more reserved and colder than the other but just as harsh.

“It would be wise for you to learn your place inmate.”

Akira opens his eyes as he tries to get up; he sees two little girls. Both have pure white hair and bright yellow eyes. Each has an eye patch with a golden V on it. The girl on the right is wearing it over her right eye, and the girl on the left is wearing it on her left eye. The two are wearing dark blue long sleeve shirts with black ties. The two also wear black baggy shorts and deep blue officer caps. They both looked like…, wardens.

The strange man started to speak once again. “Now let us get back the topic at hand. I am delighted to make your acquaintance; My name is Igor, I am the master of this place, remember it well. This is the Velvet room; this place exists between dream and reality, mind, and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound to a ‘contract’ may enter. The ‘you’ in reality is fast asleep, and you are experiencing this as a dream. I summoned you to speak of important matters that involve your life.”

Akira grabbed on to the bars once again and spoke to Igor in the same tone as before. 

“Important matters? Still, why do you have me in a cell!?

Igor giggled to himself devilishly. 

“Still, this is a surprise; the state of this room reflects the state of your own heart; you truly are a prisoner to fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits for you.”

Akira was still confused at the bizarre situation he asked.

“Ruin?” 

“I speak the end of everything. However, there is a means to avoid such a fate. You must be ‘rehabilitated.’ Rehabilitated towards freedom. That is your only means to avoid ruin...Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of this world?

Akira, still having confusion written on his face and fear still behind his eyes, asks.

“Wait... what? What are you even talking about, and still, what the hell are you?” 

As Akira raised his voice to Igor, The young girl on the right hit the cell door with her baton causing sparks to crackle up, making him stagger back. 

“WE TOLD YOU TO KNOW YOUR PLACE!” 

Igor snickering to himself and lift his head to Akira.

“Ah, my apologies for not introducing the other two. To your right is caroline; to your left, Justine. 

They serve as wardens here.”

The twins position themselves to face Akira to speak to him.

“Hmph, try to struggle as hard as you like,” Caroline stated, trying to convey disrespect to him.

“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your cooperators… that is if you remain obedient.” Justine stated in her cold yet harsh voice.” 

“Their roles will be explained on a later occasion. Now then it seems the night is waning… it is almost time. Take your time and slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet once again, eventually…” 

After Igor finishes his sentence, a blaring alarm pierces through the entire room.

“Ah, I see your time here is up. It is time for you to go back to your reality. I do hope we meet again.” 

Akira’s eyes shoot up. “WAIT!?” as Akira yelled out, everything faded to black like he was back to sleep.

  
  


_

  
  
  


Akira’s eyes shoot open to see he is in his empty room. Akira is back in his room. He lays on the thin mat, wondering what that dream he just had was. He had many questions like why would he have such a strange dream. He knows that real-life scenarios would play a part in effecting his dreams, that would explain the prison, but that wouldn’t answer why there was, well whatever the hell Igor was in his dream and the twin wardens are also not explained as well. Why would he have those two small children playing as wardens? The biggest question was still in the air. Why did it feel so...real? 

Akira picks up his phone to check the time. 

_ “It’s 6:30 in the morning. I guess I should just get ready to go see my ‘great’ new school.” _

Akira picked himself up from his mat and changed from his sleepwear to his Shujin uniform. The uniform was honestly quite simple. The top was just a simple black vest with red buttons and the Shuji school Simbel on the left side of the chest over a white long sleeve shirt. The most  _ ‘exciting’ _ part of the uniform were the bottoms, which were black and red plaid pants with grey suspenders. The uniform wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was far from perfect, at least the pants were nice. 

  
  


Akira thought to go sit at the kitchen table to show that he was ready to go to Shujin, but when he got to the door of his room, he remembered that he wasn’t allowed to “wander” around the apartment and he didn’t want to risk getting in trouble, so he just decided to wait in the corner of his room. 

After an hour of waiting, Akira hears a knock on his door, similar to the one from last night. 

“Uuh...yes?”

“It’s Makoto; we’ll head to Shuji in a half-hour, so please be ready before then.”

_ “Does she have to be so stern? It just feels like she’s just trying to intimidate me, well it’s not like that’s the hardest thing in the world to do.” _

“I understand. I’ll be out soon.”

“Good, I’ll be waiting in the living room.”

After Makoto walked away from the door, Akira stood up to grab his bag and walked to his door, when he grabbed the door handle he stopped himself from opening the door for a split second to take a deep breath and thought to himself that he just needs to power through this, and it will all be behind him.

  
  


-

The train ride to Shujin, to put it bluntly, was awful. There was just this painfully awkward air during the entire ride. Obviously they didn’t speak to each other for the whole trip. When Akira would look up from the train car’s floor, he would see an annoyed look on Makoto’s face. Akira thought that anyone would be annoyed if they were forced to go to school on a Sunday for some stranger regardless of a record or not. Akira just decided to keep his head down and not say a word for the rest of that train ride because at least he wouldn’t get in trouble if his head was down. 

  
  


When the two arrived at Shujin, they instantly went to the principal's office. They didn’t even try to look around. The little bit Akira did see of the school while the two paced down the halls was just some bulletin boards, trophy cases, and not to mention the wooden floor he was staring at for the time being. When they did get to the principal's office, Akira was met with two people. The person sitting at the desk was far from pleasant to look at. He was a blob of a man. His head was completely bald. His neck fat was uncanny; it even made it look like he didn't have a neck to begin with because it looked like it was connected to his chin’s fat. Even his clothing was unflattering. A muster color suit that looked a little too small for his gelatinous body. The woman standing next to the man, luckily, looked like a normal person. She has long curly brown hair and wore a long-sleeve yellow horizontal striped shirt and a jean skirt. She looked normal enough, but there was something off about her. Not like she was unsafe to be around but more like she was...drained. 

In a voice trying to seem strong but came off as pompous, the blob of a man spoke to Akira. 

“Ah, You must be our new transfer student Kurusu Akira, am I mistaken?” 

Akira lifted his head to the man and tried his best to look him in the eye. 

“Uh...y-yes I am, sir.” 

“Good, Thank you Nijima-san, for bringing him here.”

Makoto looked at the 

“Thank-" 

"Now let's get back to the topic that's at hand. I am the Principal of this prestigious academy, Principal Kobayakawa. I hope you understand the situation you're in; we are the only school that would accept you after your incident. While you are here, anything you got away within your hometown will not be tolerated. Do any wrong move in this academy you will be expelled.” 

Kobayakawa stopped himself to gather himself and gesture to the woman next to him to speak up. The woman’s voice was nothing like the principles; it was quiet but not shy. Her voice just sounded like someone trying to cover up how tired they were. 

“I’m Sadayo Kawakami, your homeroom teacher. Here's your student ID.”

When Kawakami put the student ID, there was a crumbled up pink flyer. When Kawakami saw what she left, her face went a little pail and instantly grabbed the flyer as fast as possible. 

“W-well, when you arrive at school the next morning, can you head straight to the faculty office so it’s easier to introduce you to your class; oh and one more thing the woman shifts her glance to Makoto- Nijima-san can you please make sure that he gets to the faculty office.”

“Yes. I’ll make sure of that.” 

Kobayakawa lifts his head and stares down Akira trying to look intimidating but comes off a little weird. “It would be wise for you to follow Nijima-san’s example. She is our top student and your senpai, so you better listen to her if she says anything. She is also obligated to report and keep an eye on you, right, Nijima-san?”

Makoto looked somewhat shocked at the statement but still kept a calm demeanor.

“Y-yes, sir.” 

“Good. I think your time here is done; you two can leave now.” 

  
  


-

While the two walked down the halls of Shujin Akira was just thinking to himself. 

“ _ Even the principal hates me, and my own homeroom teacher probably thinks of me as a nuisance. They’re even going to have Nijima-senpai watch me like a hawk. Why would they even take me in if I was going to be such a bother? Oh, wait, I know why so the school can look good. Shuji Academy, the school that turns a criminal student into a model one. Everyone who knows about my record is just going to treat me like garbage, aren’t they? Just keep your head down for the year and nothing bad will happen, but still...-” _

“Hey, how is the school?”

Akira lifts his head up for his eyes to meet Makatos. His eyes widened in shock. He asked himself,  _ Why does she want to know? Why is she even talking to me _ ? 

“Huh?” Akira responded with some shock in his voice.

“The school, do you think you’ll be fine here?”

Akira is honestly dumbfounded that Makoto asked him if he would be fine?

Akira still having a surprised tone in his voice says

“U-uh yeah, I think I’ll be ok.”

“That’s good to know. I hope you do well here.”

While Makoto turned around to walk off, Akira called out to her without thinking. 

“H-hey.” 

Makoto stops walking and shifts her head to the right but not looking directly at Akira.

Akira looks down, trying not to stare at her and speaks in a voice that sounded uncertain that he should even speak. 

“I-I’m sorry that you have to deal with me. Y-you probably don’t need the extra stress.” 

After what Akira blurted out he quickly shut himself up. He thought to himself,

“ _ Why did I say that? How Is she going to react to what I said? Am I going to get in trouble, I’m supposed not to have ‘unnecessary’ interactions with her. What”-  _ “don’t worry about it.”

Akira's eyes widened at the response wondering why the response wasn’t...well filled with anger or annoyance to him.  While Akira was dwelling in his thoughts, he realized Makoto was walking off and decided he should just try to keep up with her. 

  
  


-

  
  
  
  


The train was still filled to the brim with people that Akira and Makoto were forced all the way to the right side of the train. To avoid eye contact with Makoto "or really anyone," Akira stared out at the window. What he saw was just another set of train tracks in the dark underground railroad system. Akira was legitimately surprised that a giant railroad system was completely underground from an enormous city, but that's not what he was genuinely focusing on in his head. He was thinking about what happened in the hallway of Shujin. He was still asking himself why he blurted that out knowing full well he could have gotten into major trouble, but he still did it.

“ _ Idiot! I have to keep to myself if I’m going to survive this year. Just lay low and study, that's all I have to do-  _ before Akira could finish his thought he felt some sort of rumble coming closer. It sounded like something was speeding towards them at a thundering pace. When looking through the window, he saw something in the corner of his eye. Before he could even register what was there, a train on the second set of tracks flew right past the train; the two were on at a speed that felt like it was maxed out. The shockwave of the passing train made the train car that Akira and Makoto were on shake vigorously. The shaking of the train car made Akira lose his balance which made him slam his body into the wall of the train car vigorously but he was not hurt. As Akira tried to regain his balance, he noticed that Makoto had lost her balance in the corner of his eye and was going to fall. Within a split second, without thinking, Akira reached out and grabbed Makoto’s arm. When Akira realized what he had just done, he froze for a little, but then quickly pulled her back up so she could regain her balance. When she did regain her balance, Akira quickly let go of her arm and tried not to make eye contact. 

“I-I’m sorry that...well-”

“-N-no. You're fine...u-uh thanks”. 

  
  
  


__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay the story is differentiating.   
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it.


	3. Sae's work/ Kawakami's work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ramen
> 
> I accidentally made chapter 3 chapter 4 so that's why I deleted it.

During the time Makoto and Akira were at Shujin, Sae Niijima worked on her laptop in her office as a state prosecutor. Her office’s desk was covered with papers, books, and binders, but it wasn’t cluttered. Her desk is extremely organized down to the small details. No out of place papers, or random items on it, all the papers, books, and binders were wholly stacked and organized in alphabetical order. 

Sae checked the time on her laptop. “ _ 12:45 pm.”  _ Sae lets out a tired and annoyed sigh. “Why did I have to be forced to take him in. He’s Just another mouth to feed... Wait, did he even eat last night!?” Sae lays back in her chair and groans. “It was a lose, lose situation anyway. If I didn’t take him in, the people around me would definitely think of me as lazy, or I’m ‘fine with a criminal boy not being reformed.’ The other option was having our family be related to a criminal… I just hope he doesn't affect Makoto’s school life too much.” Sae looks up at the ceiling of her office; “either way, rumors were going to spread about us.” Sae closes her eyes and rubs them with her fingers. “And I refuse for him just to throw away his life like that.”

**_KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!_ **

Sae’s eyes opened up, and she shifted her line of vision to the door. In her usual stern voice Sae

Asked. “Yes, who is it?” 

In an overly light-hearted tone, the voice outside of the door spoke. “It's Akechi, May I come in.” 

Sae’s widened a little bit but still kept her stern demeanor. “Yes, you can come in.”

The door opened, revealing a young man with long brown hair wearing a brown coat and black pants. He was holding a metal briefcase with a giant black ‘A’ on it. Sae thought nothing of it, Just a weird aesthetic choice of his.

Akechi’s eyes shifted at all the papers and books on Sae’s desk. “I see you're hard at work, Sae-san.”

Sae looked at him sternly but not menacingly. “Not to be rude, Akechi-Kun, but why did you come to my office.” 

Akechi gave an innocent smile towards Sae. “Ah, my apologies. I just came by to tell you the Director would like to speak with.” 

Sae gave an annoyed sigh and thought to herself, “ _ why now. I have an extreme amount of work to do and mouths to feed.”  _

Sae looked at Akechi, trying to mask her annoyed expression with a stern one. “ tell him I’ll be there soon.”

Akechi nodded at the statement with a happy go lucky expression on his face “I will go and tell him you’ll be there soon Sae-san.” As Akechi started to walk out of Sae’s offices, he stopped himself and slightly turned his head to Sae and asked in a light-hearted tone. “Maybe when you’re done with work, we go for sushi and discuss our cases.” 

Sae lifted her eyebrow and closed her eyes. “Akechi-Kun, sorry, but I won’t be able to join you for today, maybe on a later date.” 

Akechi gave out a jokingly disappointed sigh. “Oh well, I’ll see you later, Sae-san.”

After Akechi walked out of the room, Sae grabbed her bag and put her laptop into it. 

While she was gathering her things, her phone was ringing immensely. Surprised by this, Sae quickly took out her phone. Her eyes widened in surprise, seeing that it was alert. 

But what truly shocked her was what the alert was about. When she pressed on the notification, she saw the alert was about a train crash in Shibuya Train Station. Her eyes widen with horror as she realizes Makoto and Akira would have to go through that area to get to Shujin and back.

She quickly dialed Makoto's number. 

As her phone rings, Sae kept thinking to herself,  _ “Please pick up. Please pick up. Please pick up. Pick up, Pick up, Pick up!” _

“Y-yes, sis.”

When Sae hears Makaoto’s voice her eyes widen and closes as she lets out a brief sigh of relief. She quickly covers it up by asking in a firm tone. “ are you two at the apartment.”

Makoto answers quickly. “Yes, yes, we are.

“Good. Sorry for calling so abruptly.”

“N-no problem.”

“Okay, good.” Before Sae hung up the phone, a thought crossed her mind. “Hey, Makoto.”

“Y-yes, sis.”

“Tell Kurusu that there’s microwaveable ramen in the refrigerator.” 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


Later that day.

  
  


“Look at the kind of trouble that Principle Koybawakoya brought to our School.”

Kawakami lifted her head up from looking down on the pile of work on her desk. Kawakaim had been working in the unpopulated faculty office for the rest of the day ever since Makoto and Akira left. 

When she turned her head to see where the voice came from, Kawakaim saw a buff man wearing a plain white shirt and blue pants that were just as extravagant as his shirt. He has thick curly black hair. His face is an oddly rectangular shape. It wasn't ‘ugly’ , just weird is all. 

“Oh Mr.Kamoshida.” Kawakami covered her mouth with her hand and gave a quiet yawn. “Why did he have to be in my class? A male teacher would be better suited for this.” She then shifted her eyes to her desk. “I get that it’s for the school’s reputation, but still.” 

Kamoshida Closed his eyes and slowly shook his head right to left and spoke in a jokingly disappointed tone . “I would think my Volleyball team would be enough cover for the schools reputation. Now I have to make up for that student and for the track team.”

Kawakami rubbed her eyes and groaned. “I know a teacher shouldn’t be hoping for this, but I wish that he would end up not coming to school, even though that’s pretty much impossible at the place he’s living at right now.” 

Kamoshida’s eyes opened up as he sighed at Kawakami's statement. “Oh right, he’s living at Niijima’s. Ugh our poor student council president, I can only hope he doesn't try anything.” Kamoshida lifted his head and groaned. “Now not only do we have to deal with the tournament that's coming up, we have to deal with that transfer student.” 

Kawakami eyes widened at the statement and rolled them. “Oh right the volleyball tournament is coming up isn’t.”

Kamoshida gave an overly peppy smile. “Yep. Everyone is expecting great things from me.” he straightened himself out. “Either way I have to go back to practice. I just came by to get some papers.” 

Kawakami shifted her eyes back to her work on her desk. “Okay. good luck then.”

Shortly After Kamoshida left the faculty office, Kawakami was alone just with her thoughts.

She is just thinking to herself. “ _ Why did it have to be me? Of all the teachers at this school, why did I have to be tasked to deal with him. He doesn't seem too bad but still I don’t want to be constantly watching him all the time.”  _ Kawakami let out a deep and tired sigh _ “This is way too much for me.”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the things I want to do for story and that's to switch the perspective to Sae convey her emotions and her feelings. I also want to show that she cares and why does she care and to show that she's not an awful person.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter.


	4. Transferring to a new prison.

Akira woke up to the sound of raindrops pelting on the side of the window in his room. 

It wasn't raining as it would for a storm, but it would be hard press to call it a ‘light shower.’ 

Either way, it was still annoyingly noisy to a half-awake Akira. 

When Akira shifted his eyesight to the window, he saw Tokyo’s once bright and robust cityscape become a city wholly covered in grey. Looking like no one would ever live in the buildings, which were already somewhat ominous before, but now they embody everything the word meant with the dark presence that they left on Akira. 

Akira didn’t even want to wake up, let alone get dressed and go to school. He would rather stay asleep for the rest of the day regardless if he would get those weird dreams again. For a couple of minutes, which felt like hours staring out the window, he mustered up the will to look at his phone to check the time.  _ “6:47,”  _ Akira groaned and flopped his arm back down to his side. He shifted his head back to the window that was now filled with the grey city’s image. “ _ The first day of school, and it’s the kind of day where no one would want to go outside.”  _ Akira shifted his head to stare directly at the drab ceiling and let out a depressed groan. “ _ I just want to go home-”  _ Akira’s eyes widened and then shakenly started to squint.  _ “I just don’t want to be here.”  _

After a couple more minutes of soulless staring at the ceiling of the room while lying on his back, Akira decided to get ready. He didn’t want to endure the trouble he would be in for not being ready on his first day at his new school. When Akira put on his Shujin uniform, he immediately fell to the floor and sat up next to the wall, waiting. Akira was waiting until he was forced to go back to the school that hated him in a city that was just overwhelming and living with two people that see him as nothing but a criminal. 

In the quiet room, Akira looked around to truly see how vacant it was and how much it made him feel small. The only two things that populated the darkroom was the beat-up cardboard box that held his clothes in it and the thin blue mat that laid on the somewhat dusty floor. The only two things that 'decorated' his room. Akira slowly turned his eyes back to the room’s cold floor to just dwell on his thoughts. He dwells on how he’s most definitely on thin ice for what happened on the train ride back to the apartment and how before he even tried to talk to her at Shujin. Akira gave a look of regret and disdain when thinking about those events.  _ “Don’t do anything like that again. You’re not supposed to talk to her or anyone. Just keep to yourself. All of this will be over in a year, and all of this will be in your past...but.”  _ At that very moment, a horrifying thought crossed Akira’s mind. The thought that this will never be in his past. The thought that even if he served his whole parole, his criminal record would always follow him. The thought on how it can prevent him from going to college, getting a job, to even living a normal life again. The thought that his life was over. Akira’s breath hitched, and his eyes started to water as he let out a small but still a very painful yelp. Akira quickly notices this and tries to wipe away all the evidence of tears forming on his face, thinking that it would make his eyes bright red, which would just bring more unwanted attention to him. 

Akira just sat in the corner of the empty room, silently waiting, waiting for the inevitable knocking on the door, waiting while he held back, the emotions bubbling up inside him like acid scraping the bottom of his heart. Waiting until all of this was over. Akira thinks to himself.  _ “Was it even worth it?”  _

When Akira was dwelling into his thoughts, he heard the unavoidable knocking on the door. He could tell it was Niijima-senpai by the rhythm of beats on the door. He knew why she was knocking. To tell him that ‘we are leaving for school.’ He collected himself before standing up to open the door. When he did open the door, he found out his guess was correct, and it was Niijima-sempai at the other side of the door. When he fully opened the door, he saw her eyes widen a bit. Akira just thought she was surprised that he was actually ready in the first place. Makoto recomposed herself and cleared her throat. “I assume you know why I knocked.” Akira stayed silent but gave her a shaky nod. 

Makoto nodded back, keeping her composure. “Good, let’s head out then.”  __ __ __

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


The train ride wasn’t as quiet or as painful as yesterday, but that wasn't because of the awkward silence from before disappeared between the two teens. It was certainly still there in the train car, but the news reports on the screen dimmed the effect of the awkward silence. Akira decided to Just focus on that for the train ride rather than go into his thoughts for his own good. “After yesterday's train crash, the conductor who was recovered of said train claims to have no memory of any events before or during the accident. On other reports related to the accident, Workers for the train tracks reported deterioration of the tracks, and claims have been made that this was the cause of the accident that occurred. The director of transportation has not released an official statement to these claims. On other news-” Akira decided to stop paying attention to the news because hearing about train accidents while being on one wouldn’t help with his anxiety. 

Akira just waited until the train ride was over and endured the awkward silence for the whole trip. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


When the two got off the train and out of the underground station, they were met with a down poor. They both luckily brought their umbrellas with them so they wouldn't be drenched by the ensuing rain. While they were going to school, Akira kept a short distance behind Makato, following her to the school. He was still unsure about which directions to take to get to Shujin because he was still unfamiliar to the area, and a part of him also didn’t really want to be familiar with it. While walking down the sidewalk, Akira just scrolled through his phone, trying to keep himself distracted from everything around him. When Akira did look up from his phone to see if anything or anyone was in front of him, he saw a girl that was a decent distance away with light blond hair strung up into two massive pigtails and wearing the same uniform he was just with a white hoodie under it, walking to a silver car. Akira couldn’t tell what brand it was. All he really could tell that it was somewhat sleek and that there was a man with curly black hair and an oddly rectangularly shaped jawline poking his head out its window talking to the young blond. When the two teens got closer to the silver car, Akira caught a glimpse of the blond's expression before she entered the vehicle. It was one of despair. 

Before Akira could fully process the expression, a young man with bright blond hair wearing the same uniform as the two but with a bright yellow t-shirt under the jacket ran right past him and Makoto with a furious expression written on his face. “Urgh! Screw that pervy teacher.”

“Pervy teacher?” Akira questioned. Before Akira could question more about the statement, Makoto responded to the claim in a cold tone. “Would you like to repeat that?” The vulgar boy turned around with anger covering his face. “ I have nothing to say to you.” 

“Oh, would you like to say it to Mr.Kamoshida,” Makoto responded.

The vulgar boy gave her a glare. “It’s not my fault that asshole thinks of himself as the king of the frigging castle.” Akira’s phone beeped after the vulgar boy’s statement, but no one really noticed because of the tension. Before Makoto could respond to the claim, the vulgar boy stated, “I don’t have time for this shit.” Before the vulgar boy ran off, a mysterious pain came over the three. They all grunted to the pain, not knowing where it came from.

The blond male shook his head. “I just want to go home.” After the blond ran off, Makoto regained her composure and turned around to Akira. “I recommend you stay away from students like him while you’re here.” Akira opened his mouth to respond but closed it and gave her a nod.” 

As the two walked, Akira still kept a short distance from Makoto. Akira decided to put his phone away in his pocket; instead of looking at his phone all the time, he put it away because it wasn’t helping him to clear his thoughts, Just making them more disorganized. He kept his head down, waiting for the inevitable. The pain from before went away, but he still felt somewhat dizzy, like everything was off, but why wouldn’t it be. He’s about to go to a school that most definitely hates him in an area that he barely even knows. While walking to the school, Akira heard a loud gasp coming from in front of him. Akira lifts his head up immediately after hearing it to see where the noise came from. In that moment of bringing his head up, Akira sees a shocked Makoto and a giant medieval castle that stands where the school should be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this my favorite chapter I have released because it's enjoyable to write about Akira and what he's thinking. 
> 
> I'm glad that people are enjoying the story I'm making, so thank you for your support, and I'm glad I made something that people actually like. Thank you for reading and expect somthing exciting for the next chapter.


	5. Black wings finally appear

Akira and Makoto look upon the ominous castle that loomed over them; in horror and disbelief, trying to rationalize everything they saw. After multiple minutes of being frozen in disbelief, Akira broke the painful silence in a trembling voice. “What’s going on? Isn’t this supposed to be the school?” Makoto, who was once completely composed, turned around looking at Akira with eyes filled with confusion and fear. “I don’t know; I know we went the same direction as before. Maybe we took a wrong turn or something.” Akira tries to agree with the statement, but he notices the sign outside the unnatural concrete walls surrounding the unearthly castle in the corner of his eye. Akira became even more shocked at the sign on the wall, he shifted his eyesight to Makoto. “But It says Shujin right there.” Makoto’s eyes shot open towards Akira, looking at him almost like she thought Akira was crazy for saying that. Surprised by the look she gave him, he instantly pointed at the plaque displaying the school’s name that was initially next to the school’s entrance gate replaced with a traditional drawbridge castle gate. “It says it right there”; Akira with confusion and meekness in his tone. Makoto turns around, shocked, and confused that Akira’s statement was true. 

Before Makoto could question even more about the situation, a distorted voice came from the castle gates. “Stop there, you bandit!”, A second equally distorted voice yells out to the teens as well. “What are you doing with one of the King’s whores!” Akira and Makoto’s heads turned to the direction of where the voices were coming from, seeing two giant men dressed as medieval knights wearing a turquoise mask with a stone-cold expression on it. Both were wielding a massive broadsword in the right hand and a giant metal shield in their left. Akira’s eyes widen behind his glasses, trying to rationalize the situation. Trying to understand why they were pointing weapons towards them, and why they called him a bandit? Before Akira could rationalize everything that was happening, the two knights charge towards the two of them. 

The two of them thought at that moment with fear coursing through their bodies that they needed to get away from these people. At the moment, it didn’t matter who or what they were. All that matters is trying to get away from the approaching danger. All that was pounding in Akira’s head was, “We need to get out of here now! We need to get out of here now! We need to get out of here now!” 

Before they could even start running, Akira heard Makoto’s voice yelling out behind him. “Let go of me!” Akira turned around in shock to see that one of the knights held Makoto’s up by her wrist. Akira sees her struggling to get away from the aggressive knight’s grasp. “Insufferable harlot!” The knight yelled out in anger toward Makoto's struggle. The knight started to tighten his grip on her wrist, trying to force her to stop. Makoto's eyes shoot open to the sudden force on her wrist, grunting at the pain, making her struggle much weaker than before. Akira turns around, wanting to charge at the guard, but he hesitates. All the thoughts from earlier come back full force into the forethought of his head. “I have to do at least something, but what if it goes like last time? What would happen to me if...no I have to do-” 

Before Akira could finish any of the ringing thoughts in his head, an immense pain fell over his body. It felt like a small truck at full speed crashing into him with as much force as possible. All Akira could feel at that moment was the striking pain that covered the entirety of his body’s back and the cold concrete of the floor scraping the side of his face. At that time, he could only hear the ringing in his ears. Meanwhile, Makoto could only see the horror of the second knight slamming his metal shield on the back of Akira's head and body, making his glasses fly off his face and cracking the lens when they hit the ground. The guards' shield’s strike sent Akira’s entire body to the ground, making his head hit the rough concrete under them. Makoto’s breathing became more erratic as her mouth hung open in shock, looking at Akira’s beaten body in horror; seeing the consciousness leave his eyes as they slowly closed. Makoto's body freezes from not knowing what to do or even what to say in this horrific situation, barely noticing the second guard saying, “Take these unjustly fools to the dungeon so the king can decide their fate.” 

\---

“What are you going to do with us!” 

Akira’s eyes were slowly open to the yelling that he could barely hear in the corner of his ear. When his eyes opened, everything was blurry to him at first. His eyes started to focus where his line of sight was pointing at; he still felt the reminisces of the shield’s impact on his back and head. His eyes finally focused, and he saw just the maroon stone ceiling of the room he was in. Akira noticed that he was on a stone bed in a much more traditional color than the rest of the room, but equally as uncomfortable. Akira instantly questions where he was and how he had gotten here in the first place. As Akira’s eyes were frantically looking, he spots the stone walls that decorated this place. Chains hanging on the wall, and bars that lined the front of the room with Makoto holding onto them, fury in her eyes. 

Akira tries to pick himself up from the stone bed as fast as possible even though he was slow and groaning until he was sitting up. The way Akira was moving portrayed how groggy he was from being knocked around by a knight like he shouldn’t even be thinking of getting up. Makoto notices the groaning from behind her and turns around to see a half-conscious Akira rubbing his face.   
“You’re awake!” Akira turns his head to Makoto, seeing the relief on her face being somewhat confused at the expression, but still, he was more curious about where he was.  
In a groggy tone, Akira asked, “Yeah, what happened and where are we.”   
Makoto’s expression darkens to Akira’s questions. “One of the guards attacked you which caused you to fall unconscious. The two guards then decided to bring us into this dungeon so we could wait for our punishment.” Akira’s expression becomes even darker than before, but before Akira could fully process the situation Makoto asked “Will you be okay without your glasses?” Akira, somewhat surprised by the question, touched his face to realize his glasses were gone. Makoto notices the confusion on Akira's face and answers it. “They were knocked off by the force of the guard’s shield when you were attacked. Will you be okay without them?”   
“Y-yeah I’ll be oka-.” “So these are the two slaves that caused so much trouble.” A smarmy distorted voice cut off Akira. Akira and Makoto shifted their heads to see a man with curly black hair with bright yellow eyes. On top of his head lies a tiny gold crown and a ridiculous glittery red robe with hearts all over it with wight fluff lining the edges. To Akira, he was seeing the man in the car from before. To Makoto, she was seeing the Shuji Teacher Mr. Kamoshida staring at the two of them with a hellish smile written all over his face.  
“Mr. Kamoshida is that you? What are you wearing; a-and what is this place!?” Makoto yelled out to the smiling man. Kamoshida gave a devilish giggle to the response. “This is my castle and you and that slave over there have committed a great crime against me.”   
“Castle, slave, crime? What are you talking about? We haven't done anything to you.” Makoto responded. “Yes you have, that slave right next to you has been charged of trespassing on my castle’s grounds and You were mingling with him, which is a major violation against me. His punishment will be death and yours” -Kamoshida paused himself and gave a horrifying smirk to Makoto. ”You’ll have to be my entertainment” Makoto and Akira's faces had nothing but fear written on them. The two of them were frozen in place trying to process what was going to happen to them in the wretched place. Both of them hoping they will wake up from this nightmare.

Kamoshida enters the cell with 4 guards behind him. Two of the guards break off from the group head straight to Akira. The 2 monstrous knights push the frozen Makoto out of the way and loom over Akira. The boy stares at the two knight’s stone cold expression, asking himself if he is even going to live after this. The two knights grab Akira’s arms, gripping them with an immense force that makes Akira grunt in pain. The knights lift him up and slam him on the stone wall on the left side of the cell holding him against the wall. Makoto looks at the display of violence in shock. Witnessing Akira in pain was more than just unsettling. “You shouldn’t be focusing on that scum. You really should just be focusing on me.” Makoto turns her head to face Kamoshida as he walks closer to her with a depraved smile on his face. “All that slave needs to do is watch.” As Kamoshida slowly walked towards Makoto with the same devilish grin on his face.  
As Komoshida approached Makoto, an instinct rushed her entire body. When Kamoshida approached, trying to grab her, Makoto instantly grabbed the horrid man’s arm and sweeped his legs off the ground, threw him over her shoulder, then slammed him on the stone floor. Kamoshida grunted in pain as his back crashed into the cold floor. Akira was Shocked and in awe at her strength. It was a nice moment of victory, but it was short lived. The two guards behind Kamoshida grabbed Makoto almost instantaneously, and slammed her on the wall across from Akira. “Aaaagh!” Makoto yelped in pain from the sudden force from the attack. Akira after seeing the attack from the two guards tries to struggle out of the hold from the other two guards but the struggle was futile as the guards merely hold their grip. 

“Insufferable bitch!” Kamoshida yelled out in anger as he tried to pick himself back up. The perverted man walks up to Makoto who is being held up against the wall by the two guards. Kamoshida gets in front of her and yells at her with a face that can only be described as pure requital. “You insufferable whore! Is that how you treat your Master and King?!” The knight holding her stiffly in place by their anger, Makoto groans in pain, shortly followed up by Kamoshida smacking her. Before Makoto could react, Kamoshida grabs her by the neck. Kamoshida then says with a horrid grin on his face “I’m going have a lot fun breaking you.” Makoto's face contorts into a face voided with nothing but terror, with fear filling her eyes. Akira sees the expression on her face and the first thing he attempts is to struggle out of the two knights grasp with no avel. The expression of Makoto was the same one of the woman he tried to save from that drunk man. In this situation, Akira truly can’t do anything and stays complacent closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see what would happen. Just before he truly lost all hope, he heard a faint voice. A soft female voice speaks to him. “This is a truly unjust game but you can not give up, my Trickster.” Akira's eyes shot open wondering where that voice came from, but before he could find the origin of the voice, a new voice replaced it. A darker voice that was somewhat similar to Akira's own voice but a lot more theatrical. A dark snicker ringed through Akiras head. Akira’s eyes sporadically moved around trying to find where the snicker was coming from. The entity finally speaks to him. “It’s not dissimilar to last time is it not? If you do nothing more than her life will be taken. Will thou simply look away from the carnage in front of thou’s self or will thou take action. Was your previous decision a mistake?!” In a meek voice Akira responds to the voice. “Maybe, I-”  
“-Does thou truly wholeheartedly believe that?! It is pointless to hide your true feelings to oneself. So I ask once more. Was your previous decision a mistake!” Akira looks at Makoto’s expression once more, and in a flash, he sees the expression of the other women. Akira grits his teeth and answers the voice. “NO, it wasn’t a mistake!” The voice snickers and speaks to him. “Hmm, Very well, I have heeded your resolve. Now...Vow to me!” An intense throbbing pain struck Akira's head. Akira let out a horrible scream to the pain. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!” Kamoshida looked behind himself and had a conflicted face if he enjoyed Akiras screams or not. “I like the screams, it’s just not in the right moment.” The voice ringed louder through Akiras head. “I am thou, thou art I... Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name, and release thy rage! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!"   
Akira gritted his teeth and lifted his head to Kamoshida. Akira Yells out to him. “I WILL STOP YOU, YOU SICK PERVERTED BASTARD.” Kamoshida turns his head towards Akira. Both him and Makoto have a shocked expression written on their faces from what Akira belched out. Kamoshida lets go of his grip on Makoto. “You dare refer to ME like that, you really do want to die don’t you? Guards, execute him!” 

The guard next to Akira slams his shield into Akira, making the boy grunt. The guard then raised it’s sword to slash at Akira. Before the guard could strike, Akira's eyes shot open and an immense pressure of air erupted from his body; making the two guards that were holding him down fly back and hit the walls of the cell and became incompastated by the force of the gust. The two guards holding up Makoto were pushed back making them loosen their grip on Makoto, making her drop to the stone floor. Kamoshida was knocked down to the floor from the shockwave. With a confused but still angered look on his face, he looks where Akira is and sees a black and white mask covering his face. 

Akira feels the weight of the mask on his face and lifts his hands to his face to feel out the mask, wondering where it came. Akira was shocked by the mask on his face so the decision that wasn't truly cognitive but felt more like instincts. Akira grabbed the mask on its side to rip it. Akira felt the resistance of the mask, feeling like it was attached to the skin of his face but the instinct to rip the mask off consumed all his thoughts. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" All Akira could feel was the pain of tearing off the mask that felt like it was stitched on to the skin of his face. As Akira ripped the mask off of his face, blood spewing out of where the mask once was on his face. Blood covered Akira’s face as his head hanged downed. The image of what Akira had done to his face and the noise of the blood dripping from his face hitting the stone floor left Kamoshida dumbfounded and Makoto horrified. “Guar-” before Kamoshida could order his other two guards, Akira lifts up his blood covered face revealing a smile like the devils written on his face, with bright yellow eyes replacing Akira’s dark grey eyes. Before anyone could say a word a blazing azure flame erupted from Akira's face. The flame grew over Akira covering his face and body. The blue flame was humanoid in shape like a blazing suit over Akira, but that wasn’t the most unsettling detail. The Azure being had a ghastly face, The face was just a red flame on top of the blue one, it had a jagged smile and sharp flaming eyes. The flame just stood there with a smile on its face, then the unthinkable happened. Another being and Akira came out of the blazing creature. The second being had the same jagged smile as the first one but instead it wasn’t a blazing blue but deep black and crimson, looming over Akira whose face was cleaned of the blood and his eyes turned back to the dark grey, but he still had that devilish smile written on his face. The Azure flame that once covered Akira spirals around him and the massive looming being with black chains apreaning in the flames. Akira stood up straight and flinged his arms open like birds flapping its wings. AsAkira gesture the crimson figure who was originally hunched stood up just as straight and revealed a pair of massive jet black wings that created an air current powerful enough to knock away the other guards that were beside Makato.   
The being fully revealed itself and it was all Makoto could see. She could only hear the sound of her heart beat pounding in her chest until it spoke in a ghastly voice that was similar to Akira’s voice. 

“I am the Pillager of Twilight, Arsene!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for how long this chapter took to be posted. Don't worry the series is not dead and I'm not losing interest in it just a lot of stuff has been happening in my own life like school and personal problems I have to deal with. Also a lack of interest in the Persona Series in general but that's nothing to worry about. 
> 
> Thank you for waiting so long for this and I'll make sure chapters come out in a more timely manner


	6. Castle Escape

“I am the Pillager of Twilight, Arsene!”

“What the...?” Makoto uttered in shock and fear at the sight of Arsene.  
A demonic being loomed over Akira, wearing a crimson suit and a ridiculously giant top hat with a pair of massive black wings on its back, brandishing a burning smile on its glass-like face. Still, the most striking thing from this image was the smile on Akira’s face. For some reason, Akira was wearing a suit with a long black coat. Makoto would have never thought that a boy like Akira could make such a devilish smile, his once dark grey eyes shining in bright silver. To Makoto, this was the most alive Akira had ever looked. 

“I am the rebel soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis.” Arsene stated in a ghastly yet willful voice. Akira looked back in awe of the being that stood or, better yet, flew behind him. He thought about everything he had gone through: being forced to leave his home, being shunned by everyone he knows and being given an unjust record. Akira smiled,“Give me all the power you have,” he said with vigor. Arsene released a small snicker at his command. “Hmph… very well. Show them the power thou hath obtained!” 

“What the hell?” Kmaoshida exclaimed in confusion and fear.  
He picked himself back up and yelled with blistering rage, “Guards, kill that wretched slave. Show what it means to defy me!”  
Two of the knights that had been lying lifeless on the stone floor in front of the cell instantly jumped back up. They began to shake uncontrollably as black and red ooze flowed freely out of them. Their shaking reached its peak before they suddenly exploded entirely into the sludge. The black ooze started burning and two giant Jack-o'-lanterns wearing witches’ robes and hats emerged from the ashes, both of them holding lit lanterns in their right hands. Makoto was shocked at the transformation. It horrified her that such a grotesque transformation could bring forth something admittedly so goofy yet intimidating. Akira, On the other hand, thought nothing of it, flashing them the same devilish grin. 

Arsene then turned to the creatures and let out a triumphant laugh. “Hahaha… now detest the enemies before you! Change that animosity into power... and unleash it! Let this power of yours be known!” Akira took a stance against the two monsters but realized that something was on his left hand. He lifted it to find a small but intense reddish-black flame covering it. He looked upon it in awe before smiling once again. Akira thrusted his left arm forward and yelled out. “Go, Eiha!” Arsene laughed and mimicked Akira's motion, and an intestine blast of red and black energy fired out of Arsene’s claw-like hand. The blast hit the Jack O’Lantern on the left, and it enveloped the creature in the black energy and slammed it straight into the cell wall. The jack-o’-lantern is bashed and beaten to a pulp with the flame inside of it flickering, looking as if it may be extinguished at any second. The Jack O’Lantern tried to pick itself back up but was too weak to make any worthwhile attempt. It just lay there looking pathetic before Arsene and Akira.  
The other jack-o-lantern didn’t hesitate before the state of its comrade and charged full force at Akira. A mere moment before the jack-o-lantern attacked, Akira lifted his arms to guard himself. The jack-o-lantern slammed into him, forcing him back to regain his balance.  
“Heh...Now swing your blade!” Akira was confused at Arsene’s statement, but he soon realized that he was holding a knife in his right hand. Akira had no idea where the weapon came from, but he didn’t care; the only thought in his mind was that he could retaliate. Akira started snickering to himself, and jetted forward to the jack-o-lantern that hit him, slashing three times in rapid succession. To an onlooker, it would have seemed he had been using a knife for his entire life, but Akira never even touched a weapon like this before. After he was done slashing at the monster, he grabbed it by the head to bring it closer to him. The monster was too weak from the deep scars caused by Akira’s slashes to break free from his grasp. When the monster was finally close enough, Akira stabbed at it with deadly force again and again. After six times, he slammed the flickering creature into the ground and the flame in the jack-o-lantern went out as it hit the cold stone floor. The monster then disintegrated into the same black ooze from when it first transformed. During that display of brutality, the other jack-o-lantern managed to pick himself back up from the stone floor. It then started to charge what looked like an attack from its lantern, but Arsene wasn’t fazed by this act of retaliation and looked down at Akira to find the boy smiling with his eyes closed. Arsene then spoke to the boy with a booming voice that filled the room. “Kill them; however, you wish. Run while to your heart’s content, and do what you know is right, even if it means going up against the world that has unjustly punished you!”  
While Arsene was yelling at Akira all he could think of were the images of the people in his life. He saw blazing blue images of his parents, the principal, the man and woman from the night he was arrested, and Sae. The images burned away and dissipated in a blue flame as he started to snicker. The snicker soon became a powerful cackle that filled the entire room, unnerving everyone in it, everyone except for Arsene. Akira opened his eyes to see the pathetic jack-o-lantern that lay before him, revealing his once bright silver eyes to be a burning crimson. Still cackling, Akira thrust his arms once more at the monster and yelled out in a powerful yet crazed voice. “Ravage them, Arsene!” Arsene again made the same motions as Akira. “Hmph, very well.“ Arsene let out the same kind of horrific cackle as Akira, and at the same time released his black and red energy blast at the monster, but at ten times the intensity and power from before. The giant blast hit the monster before them, instantly eradicating it.

Not a moment after the jack o’lantern disintegrated back to that black and red ooze, Akira began panting like he had been running for miles on end, taking in as much air as possible. He felt his heart pounding like it was trying to break out of his chest, and that pounding was the only thing he could hear Arsene loomed over Akira, looking around at the aftermath of his awakening, noticing the shocked Kamoshida and a horrified Makoto sitting on the floor, their gazes aimed at Arsene. Arsene snickered and looked down at Akira.He spoke now in a much softer voice from before, a gesture undercut by his ominous nature. “Now you know what real power tastes like, but I only ask for one favor. Make sure you use my power wisely.” Akira’s eyes widened, turning back to their original dark grey color. Arsene then looked at the shocked Komoshida trying to pick himself up and preparing to attack Akira. Arsene fired a minuscule energy blast at the perverted man, knocking him into the wall and knocking him out. A ring of keys were set free from Kamoshida’s gaudy robe during the impact. Arsene returned to Akira like a spirit repossessing its body. Once Arsene vanished, the mask from before reappeared on Akira’s face and, in a blinding flash of blue flame, the Phantom, like the suit he was wearing, disappears and is replaced by his school uniform, with his glasses reappearing on his face like he was always wearing them. 

Akira noticed the keys on the floor and grabbed them. He then saw Makoto sitting on the stone floor, shocked by all that just transpired. Akira spoke quickly, “come on, we have to get out of here.” Makoto nodded at the boy, picked herself up and ran out of the cell. Akira followed her out, but before they started to run away, he closed the section behind him and locked Kamoshida inside the cell. Akira walked back to Makoto and began to breathe heavily from the strain of the ordeal he just experienced. He turned to see Makoto with her hand on her chest, breathing just as hard as Akira and looking dead at him.

“What happened!? How did you even do that!? Why? How did your clothes change!? What came out of you!? What’s going on?”  
Akira, shocked by all the questions, began to respond in a confused tone. “I...I don’t know it-.” But before Akira could finish what he was saying, a loud slam rang out from behind him. Startled, Akira jumped back and turned to see a furious Komshida holding the cell bars tightly.  
“You insubordinate slave, and you insufferable bitch!” What the hell do you think you’re doing!"  
Akira and Makoto look at each other.  
“W...we need to get out of here,” Makoto said with uncertainty. Akira nodded at her and put the cell’s keys in his bag before they started to run away from Kamoshida, who was cursing at them while he violently shook the cell door.  
While they were running away, they noticed the horror of the castle they were in. They saw the fast-moving torrent of water in the middle of the two stone floors, filled with miscellaneous pieces of broken metal sticking up out of the water. As they went deeper into the stone hallway, the two of them saw the origins of the broken metal: cages hung up above the river, each with prisoners inside them, their moans and screams of pain filled the room. Each prisoner wore a metal mask with a chain connected to the back, covering their heads entirely.  
Makoto and Akira were still and silent, shocked by the horrors inside this castle. Before either of them could respond to their surroundings, they heard a voice yelling in the distance.  
“Shut up, you stupid cat!” A familiar voice yells back.  
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not a cat, you gibbering monkey!”  
“What did you say!”  
As Makoto and Akira ran through the area, they saw the vulgar boy from before, who cussed at Kamoshida, behind his back.  
Akira and Makoto looked at the vulgar boy in surprise, seeing him locked up like they once were.  
Then, the vulgar boy noticed Akira and Makoto, just as surprised as they were to see them in this castle. He yelled in surprise. “Wait, how are you guys here? And why?” Akira and Makoto hushed the boy in an aggressive and rapid manner. Akira then whispered to the boy in a much more mild tone. “We could ask the same about you?”  
“Well, I don’t know how I got here either.” The boy responds in the same tone as before.  
“Can you please be quieter, Sakamoto-Kun, we don’t want the guards to hear us,” Makoto replied in a harsh whisper.  
“Right...” Sakamoto said in a defeated whisper.  
“You guys really do suck at this.” A high pitch pompous voice comes from the cell Sakamoto is in. The three of them look into the back of the cell. Makoto and Akira see the bright blue eyes illuminating the shadows inside of the prison cell. A creature with bright blue eyes comes into the light revealing a cartoonish black and white cat having a humanoid body shape, with a massive oval-like head and a yellow scarf around its neck.  
Akira and Makoto are surprised by the not so threatening but bizarre-looking cat-like creature that stood before them. While Akira was speechless at the sight of the thing, Makoto let out a gasp.  
“A monster cat?” She let out in a shocked whisper.  
“I’m not a cat! Wait, monster?” It responded in a sad whisper.  
Akira shook his head. “What is that thing?”  
“I don’t freaking know,” Sakamoto said in an annoyed whisper. “It was here when those knight things threw my ass in here, and all it’s been doing is annoy the crap out of me.”  
The creature shook its head, trying to forget the reaction he got from Akira and Makoto. “Hey, you’re the one who’s been annoying me, and at least I wasn’t a total ameture that got caught instantly.” It walked up to Akira, ignoring the angered look of Sakamoto. “Hey, frizzy hair, you look smarter than blondie over there and a little more capable than the one behind you. How ‘bout you try to get us out of this cell.” Everyone was taken aback by the statement.  
“You guys obviously look like you don’t want to be here, so how about we scratch each other’s backs,” Sakamoto interjected quickly. “Why the hell we should trust you. You could be some trap set up from that shit head, or be a monster from whatever this pace is.”  
The cat-like thing turned to Sakamoto. “Are you that stupid?” It quickly turned back to Akira. “So will you take my deal to help me and blonde.”  
Akira looked back at Makoto, seeing her fearful face. He nodded at her and looked towards whatever it was before him.’ “Okay, I’ll take your deal.”  
Sakamoto looked surprised but then rolled his eyes and said nothing. Makoto stayed silent as well.  
“I knew you were the smart one.” Sakamoto decided to interject. “Okay, he’ll let me and you out, but how is he going to do that?”  
“Actually, I have these.” Akira pulled out the keys he took from Kamoshida.  
“I didn’t know you were that capable; you’ve seriously impressed me, rookie.”  
“Wait, how did you get those?” Sakamoto asked with a surprising amount of energy. Akira looked down for a moment, then quickly looked back at Sakamoto. “Uh...It’s a long story.”  
Akira unlocked the prison cell that held Sakamoto and the “cat”.  
“Ahh… the sweet taste of freedom.”  
“So, how are you going to get us out of this place,” Sakamoto said, clearly annoyed.  
“Just follow me, you’ll be fine when I’m by your side.” The cat-thing shot back  
It then ran off, with the three of them following it.

The three teens followed the “cat” for a couple of minutes, but to Akira it felt like hours. Nothing was going wrong during those minutes except Sakamoto being antsy around the “cat” (Akira was also questioning why he was continually looking at his right leg) but the time spent was far from pleasant. The noise caused by horrific screaming in the distance unnerved the teens and the raging river between the stone floors caused the stone to be damp and slippery. Akira tried not to think about how he could easily slip into the rushing water that was next to him, or sometimes under him when they had to go over a wooden bridge that felt like it could give out at any moment. Akira frantically questioned everything that happened to him when he was fighting… whatever those jack-o-lantern things are called, as he ran.  
“What is this place, and how the hell did we get here? What were those monsters that I fought, and what was that thing that came from me! Aagh, nothing is making any sense. Could it just be a dream? Yeah, that could be it….but I read the sign outside of the school just fine, so there’s a chance that all of this is real.” Akira slowly turned his line of sight towards Makoto, seeing her run just as frantically as he was, then quickly turning his line of sight back to where it once was. “What does Nijjima-senpai think of this? What is she going to do? Will she tell Nijjima-san about this’? Would she even believe her? Will she just try to kick me out, saying I’m dangerous? I wouldn’t blame her for thinking that after what happened with Arsene and me. Does she think I brought us here on purpose?” Akira’s thoughts started to slow down when he asked himself, “What’s going to happen to me if we get out of this?” Before he could answer that question the “cat” interrupted by yelling out, “Everyone stop, enemy ahead!” Akira and Makoto stopped instantly, trying not to slip, but while Sakamoto stopped, he slipped, falling on his right side. The “cat” noticed what happened and rolled his eyes at the blonde boy.  
The knight in front of the group yelled out “For King Kamoshida, I will kill you myself!” It then exploded into the red-black ooze, and two figures sprang from it. One of them was another Jack-o-lantern monster, but the second figure was different, it was just a small woman in a blue dress with pixie wings on its back. With those monsters’ appearance, Akira’s phantom-like suit appears on to him in a flash of blue flame. The "cat" and Sakamoto looked at Akira with their surprise written across their faces. “So you have the power as well?” A smirk forms on the "cat's" face. “That explains how you got the keys. Now I’m guessing you can fight?” Akira nodded at the strange creature. “Good, now let me show you my power.” The "cat" took a fighting stance and yelled out. “Come forth, Zorro!” An explosion of blue flame comes from the “cat”, which caused Makoto and Sakamoto to be knocked down onto the stone floor. From the blue flame came a being covered in black with a massive upper-body that contrasted with the thin legs for its lower body. As the shadows dissipate from the it reveals its bright yellow eyes, a belt buckle with a giant Z on it, and a silver rapier in its enormous right hand.  
“The hell is that thing?!” Sakamoto shouted out in surprise. Makoto simply stared on in shock. She was speechless at the sight of this cartoonish creature being flanked by one of those monsters. Akira was just surprised that he met someone with similar power to his in so little time. “Hey, frizzy hair.” Akira changed his attention from Zorro to the “cat.” “I showed you the power that resides in me, so how about you show me your strength then?” It surprised Akira at first, but that surprise soon became determination and Akira nodded at the "cat". “Alright...Come forth, Arsene!” The mask on Akira’s face disappeared in a blue flash, leading to Arsene appearing like a phantom. Akira yelled out with resolve. “Arsene, Attack the one from before!” Arsene thrust his arm at the Jack O’Lantern monster, a strong Eiha blast coming out of his hand towards the monster. The red and black attack enveloped the monster, forcing it onto the stone floor. The flame inside of the monster was small but still flickered as it floated just off of the ground.  
“tch...I knew you were an amateur.” The "cat" called out in a cocky voice. “I’ll show you what a real pro can do. Zorro attack!” The shadow-like figure swung its sword in a Z shape, and a blast of green wind came from the Z, spiraling towards the Jack O’Lantern, consuming it in its vortex, instantly vanquishing it. Akira looked on in awe, as the monster went down. Sure, it was weakened by Akira’s attack, but the wind made it completely unable to resist or struggle in just one blow.  
“You see that. That’s how you take down a shadow. By exploiting its weakness, you end the fight quickly. So how about you properly use that power of yours and take out the other one.” Akira nodded and took the "cat's" advice. He Thrust his hand towards the Pixie creature, yelling out, “Eiha!” Arsene mimicked the gesture once again and fired a second accursed blast at the creature, enveloping the monster, erasing it completely. 

“So that’s your power? Not bad for a rookie.” Akira turns his attention towards the "cat". “Uh...Thank you.” Akira said in a meekly. After the fight’s conclusion Sakamoto and Makoto stood back up, with Sakamoto running towards the "cat" and Akira.  
“The hell were those things that came out of you, all dramatic like, cat?” Sakamoto asked. The "cat" turned his attention to the vulgar boy with a look of annoyance annoyed. “I told you I am not a cat! My name is Moragana you dumb monkey.” Sakamoto’s expresion started to turn into one of annoyance. “Who cares about that? I’m wondering what the hell you Just did! And stop calling me that shit! My name is Ryuji, Ryuji Sakamoto got that?” Moragana rolled its large eyes. “rgh...You really don’t know anything. Fine I’ll explain. What you just saw was a Persona. The manifestation of someone's rebel soul in physical form.” With the same annoyed expression Ryuji said “Everything you just said made zero sense.” Morgana groaned and shook his head in disapproval. “You get what I mean, right frizzy hair?” Akira looked at Morgana in confusion. “Well I guess you mean a persona is our will to fight in a physical form.” Morgana gave the frizzy haired boy a delighted smile. “That's pretty close actually. I can already tell that your not as slow as blondie over there.” “I Told you my name is Ryuji!” He interjected angrily. Before Ryuj and Morgana could argue Makoto cut in, “I think we shouldn’t stay here for any longer than need be.” Makoto said to the three of them, trying to keep a composed voice. After Makoto’s statement, Akira’s mask and phantom-like suit disappeared in a flash of blue flame as before. Morgana looked carefully at Akira, surprised to see his phantom suit disappear without a trace. “I see you don’t have full control over your powers yet.” Morgana then looked to Makoto and nodded “She's right we have to go, we don’t want any more guards coming after us when we're not at full strength.'' Once finished Morgana ran off with the three teens following suit. 

-  
In the real world

“It’s already 12:57 in the afternoon, where are they?” Kawakami said, annoyed. Making me wait in the student faculty office like this without any notice. I would expect this from that Kurusu boy but not Nijjima-san. If something came up she would have called by now.” Kawakami sat back in her chair and yawned. “Should I call the police? ...No that will just cause more problems than I’m willing to deal with right now. I just hope that they don’t waste any more time.” Kawakami slid down her chair before quickly picking herself back up. “Why did I have to be the one to deal with some delinquent?” 

In the real world? 

“Right here!” The three teens stopped to see Morgana pointing at a door across a massive room. The stone floor was replaced with glistening white and green marble with a circular, gold lined, crimson carpet. The pillars holding up the ceiling were made of a beautiful white stone. Just like the pillars, the stairs were made out of the same brimming stone, with golden hand rails that lead to a glorified painting on the wall. The painting depicted Kamoshida as a Knight of glory, wearing golden armor and a red cape holding a sword and a shield. A room like this shocked Akira. How could such a Beautiful room (minus the painting) be connected to the cruel nature of the underground caverns? “Okay, right through here and we will be golden.” Morgana and the three teens ran across the massive room into a second hallway in front of them. As the four of them went into the second hallway, Morgana opened a door on the hallway's left side. “Right through here.” All of them rushed towards the room Morgana went into, Makoto closing the door behind them as quietly as possible. When Akira saw the room, it was nothing like the one they were just in. It was a gray stone room with dirty wooden tables and wood shelves lining the room's back with a ventilation grate over the top of it. “Where the hell did you bring us? How in the hell are we supposed to get out of here?” Ryuji blurted out in anger. Morgana turned his attention towards the vulgar boy. “You can’t be that stupid.” Morgana then looked to Akira. “Please tell me you’re not as stupid.” While Ryuji widened his eyes at the statement, Akira looked around the room. He then pointed at the ventilation shaft. “Through there...right?” Morgana nodded his head in approval “That's right. Thank God you have a brain.” Ryuji looked at the ventilation shaft. “Alright I’ll try to pry it off.” Ryuji bolted to the grate and climbed up the wooden shelves to reach it. While Ryuji tried to pry the grate off Makoto walked up to Morgana. In a shaky voice, Makoto spoke. “Thank you Morgana for helping us.” Morgana turned his attention to Makoto. “No problem, just don’t get into anything like that again.” Akira shifted his attention towards Morgana as well. “Seriously thank you.” Morgana cast a smirk towards Akira. “Again no problem I’m just that kin-.” A loud clanging of metal echoed across the room. “oh shit.” Akira, Morgana, and Makoto changed their attention to the noise to see that Ryuji had dropped the metal grate on the floor. Morgana groaned and shook his head. “You guys should go, that noise probably attracted some unwanted attention.” Makoto and Akira nodded at Morgana and started toward the ventilation shaft. As the three teens escaped from the castle, Morgana thought aloud. “Those three seem somewhat useful. I don’t know about the girl, and that monkey can be pretty annoying, but at least he takes action.That frizzy haired kid seems really useful though, especially since he has a persona as well. This will be interesting.” Morgana smiled to himself for awhile, until he heard a faint voice in the distance shout out “I think I heard something in there.” Morgana’s eyes widened. “Oh shoot I got leave now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is very late and I'm sorry about that. Life has been just been garbage lately but everything is much better now so no worries. I will try to get chapters at better times but for right now they will come out when they're done. Thanks to all of you for reading and for waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah if you read living with a Criminal there are similarities and that's why I kind of hate this chapter. It's just that Queenniijima gets the character interaction completely down if this actually happened.
> 
> I do wish I could link living with a Criminal but sadly has been deleted but I will still give credit where credit's due. So thank you Queenniijima for inspiring me to do this.
> 
> Don't worry there will be major differences in this story it just didn't happen in this chapter.  
> I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you stick around to read the rest


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